December 13, 2003

Fire in the sky

Gunung Bromo, Java, Indonesia.

I manage to wake at 3am for the walk to the viewpoint. The village is on the edge of a large crater, maybe four km across. In the middle of this are two smaller craters. A perfect cone which is dormant, and another, smaller cone which is mildly active, sending steam high in to the air. The viewpoint is further around the edge of the outside crater, a little higher up than the village.

I initally follow a road out of the village. Slowly climbing higher. After about an hour the road stops and a track continues on, much more steeply. I follow this for some time further before reaching a small viewpoint with a couple of concrete shelters. It's not quite at the summit but I can climb on top of the shelters and get a good view above the trees. There's barely a sound apart from the occasional distant 4wd, taking people from the other side to a different point.

In time the sun rises and I'm greeted by a spectacular view of the large crater below, the two new cones inside it, the left one sending out a thick stream of steam, and the much larger Gunung Semeru in the distance. As the sun rises a little higher I am suddenly rewarded with a huge blast of smoke and steam from Gunung Semeru. It's too distant to hear but the plume is hugely impressive.

I stand for a while longer, enjoying the changing light on richly green crater walls and the thick mist rolling back forth before deciding to venture back down to the village. It is now a little after 6am and the local farmers have all started to stir and there is some life on the road back.

A quick breakfast back at the hostel then it's on to the second part of the expedition. Down into the large crater and up the active central cone. Horses are a popular way for tourists to make the descent and cross the 2km or so of fine volcanic sand to reach the centre. The locals couldn't understand why I'd want to walk. By the time I reached the crater and climbed the 246 steps to the top I was getting a little tired but the view in to the crater, to the sulphur-lined central vent from which the smoke and steam was erupting, was well worth the effort. I was easy to see how this place became a religious site and you could imagine the vent descending deep into the very core of the earth.

I walked around the edge for a little way before deciding that a complete circumnavigation was probably a bit unwise. It looked a little perilous on the far side. I instead contented myself with watching the thick smoke rise and swirl around, hiding and revealing the deep sulphur walls.

Eventually I headed back to check out of the hostel and catch a bemo back down in to Probolinggo. Just as I was leaving a bemo-jockey rushed me down the road and quickly loaded my backpack on the roof, along with half-a-dozen trussed chickens. This is good, I thought, should be going soon. I hopped in and saw four others already on board, including the driver. No activity for a while then one by one everyone got off. I stayed on in the vain hope that this would speed things up. All quiet for ten minutes then suddenly the driver jumps in and starts the engine. Everyone else quickly jumps in as well then we sit there for five minutes with the engine running. Finally, after a brief bit of maneuvering ten metres up and down the street the engine goes off, everyone gets out again and we are back to where we started. Such are the joys of travel.

Posted by David at December 13, 2003 06:50 PM